You're Getting Very Sleepy

Becoming a parent changes everything. So that transition between
nonparenthood and parenthood — those months, weeks, days, and
hours — are fraught with joy and wonder and abject terror.

"My experience with first-time moms has shown me that women may fear
the unknown. Birth is a mysterious and powerful experience and so
different for each woman," says Oakland-based birth advocate Carrie
Flemming, who will teach a quartet of classes in HypnoBirthing
at BirthWays (1600 Shattuck Ave., Suite 122, Berkeley) starting
on Friday, June 5. "It is more common to hear scary stories about what
went wrong in a birth rather than about all the births that happen
smoothly every day." These horror stories "surround birth with an aura
of danger" that has, Flemming laments, "overshadowed the healthy,
normal, and safe view of birth we should be instilling in women through
education, psychological and physical preparation, and
empowerment."

Not just a stage-magician's trick or a means of accessing past
lives, hypnosis "provides a relaxed state where women can gain access
to deeper self-awareness and connection to themselves." Once engaged in
the process, "women are completely coherent and in control of their
minds and bodies, and are choosing to focus on letting go of fears and
anxieties in the mind and deeply relaxing the body," explains Flemming,
who has trained as a doula and earned her HypnoBirthing certificate two
years ago: "Self-hypnosis produces endorphins which are extremely
beneficial for moms and babies prior to and during labor. Endorphins
can act as nature's anesthesia and a relaxed mind and body allow the
birthing body to move through the perfectly natural process of
birth."

Developed by New Hampshire teacher, hypnotherapist, and
mother-of-four Marie Mongan, HypnoBirthing has been praised for
building confidence, boosting the mother-baby bond before birth, and
even bringing bodies into labor without artificial chemical inducement.
The latter can happen in several different ways, Flemming says:
"Physical intimacy produces oxytocin, the hormone present at the onset
of labor. Kissing, hugging, sexual intercourse, and clitoral/nipple
stimulation are great options for bringing the body into labor. For
those with male partners, semen contains a prostaglandin that helps to
soften the cervix. This intimacy and deep connection is a beautiful,
loving place to begin the dynamic process of birth. Spicy foods,
visualization, and releasing fear are other natural ways to help
produce a natural onset of labor."

Increased prenatal awareness "is the base level of birth justice,"
asserts Flemming, who is also a multimedia artist. "I believe it is
related to all other movements for justice on the planet. I often
wonder if women were routinely given the tools to birth with awareness,
love, confidence, and joy in a calm, compassionate, and nurturing
environment, how this might provide a foundational framework for
increased justice and peace on the planet." 6 p.m., $300, includes
mother and birthing partner. BirthWays.org

Contact the author of this piece, send a letter to the editor, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.